Genuine VS Fake Memory Stick Pro Duos

Being a psp owner, one has to wonder whether the stuff on Ebay are really genuine. Simple answer, most of them are fake.

I have compiled together some information that may help for you to differentiate between a genuine and a fake Memory Stick Pro Duo.

First off: Most memory sticks from Ebay originating from Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and other Asian countries except for Japan and maybe Korea, will be fake. Sorry to burst your bubble but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Now days it's actually harder to find a bargain involving the real deal, hence for this guide.

Ebay Tips:

Check the country of origin, remember Asian Countries are a big no-no.
Always check the star ratings of the seller
Check the comments on the seller, there are usually helpful people out there who say things like "user sells fake memory sticks"
Lastly, check price. Stuff that is about AU$40-60/EUR$30-35/US$40-50 for a 4GB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo can be mostly considered fake.

If you are unlucky enough to have been tricked, having a fake Memory Stick isn't so bad. A member of ITT has bought one unknowingly, and it has been almost a year since its first usage occurred. Not only does it give the required transfer speed, it also gives an extra 20-30MB. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO 2GB MSPDs.

However, that same member, thinking that this applies to all fake memory sticks, recently foolishly bought 3 4GB MSPDs and they were all not working, either not giving the full 4 gigs or just not working at all.

How to tell the difference?

Well it's not as if Ebay sellers blatantly put pictures on the internet showcasing their fraudulence. But it's a lot easier to tell once we can view the packaging.

1. Seals

1. Genuine retail blister packaging has long staple-shape heat-pressed seals indicated by the yellow arrows. Fake has round dimple glue seals indicated by the encircled red arrows.
2. Genuine retail blister packaging has 9+6+9 (some has 3+2+3) staple heat seals along the Left, Top and Right edges of the pack while fake always only has 3+3 round dimple glue seals along the Left and Right edges with NO seal at the Top edge. This applies to all 1GB/2GB/4GB/8GB retail packaging products.
3. Genuine has color coded round label: 1GB is Light Blue, 2GB is Light Green, 4GB is Purple Blue, 8GB is Red. Fake Sony has similar color codes for 1GB, 2GB and 4GB so not as easy to differentiate, except Fake 8GB is Light Blue which can be easily identified.
   
4. Genuine retail blister packaging will have a golden metallic 3D 'SONY holographic sticker' at the front as pictured. Newer fakes now also have similar identical holographic sticker. Bring the packaging to your nearest SONY retail outlet and ask for a SONY Anti-counterfeit Handy Viewer to tell if your item is genuine. The viewer has 2 see through Lens. Genuine hologram will appear as complete BLACK when see through the Left lens and Normal on the Right lens. Counterfeit hologram will appear as Normal through both Left and Right lens.

2. They look crap in general

1. Genuine uses print ready/control vector art technique to print all the letterings. Fake uses inferior hi-res bitmap to copy the genuine, so zoom in a bit to see the printing flaw. The font on the fake usually is bolder, messy, out of focus and rub off easily. Newer fakes have exact print now.
2. Genuine card is often thinner than fake. Try fitting the card into an adapter and you may find that it has problem as it doesn't seems to fit into the adapter easily (feels like its squeezing in). Newer 2GB fake (1959MB version) even has problem fitting into a PSP (PlayStation Portable).The font face, font size and printing technique are the main criteria to differentiate the genuine from the fake, so you must take notice.
3. Genuine has the letter 'S' in 'MSX-4GS' as Italic than the 'S' used in other writings such as 'BBSC1000000'. Also notice the OPEN top letter '4' for both 2GB and 4GB cards. Fake is using identical normal font face throughout!
4. On the 10 gold metal stripes/contact, genuine is covered fully by the black plastic housing from the top to the bottom end. Fakes may have small black holes on the some metal stripes, some have its gold metal stripe not fully covered by the black plastic housing. Some fakes have internal green color PCB board exposed as pictured displaying its inferior manufacturing defect.
5. Genuine uses print ready/control vector art technique and has all golden letterings engraved by laser-etched into the plastic shell of the card. Fake uses inferior hi-res bitmap to copy the genuine, so zoom in a bit to see the printing flaw. The font on the fake usually is messy, out of focus and rub off easily. To know if it is printed, just use your finger to feel the surface as the letterings are a bit raised.

3. Capacity and Transfer Speed

1. Genuine 4GB displays default capacity as 3839MB and genuine 2GB displays default capacity as 1909MB while some devices will read them at 1910MB. Some older fake 2GB shows 1948MB and 1959MB of memory space when being tested. Newer fake 2GB may now show any of these figures including the 1910MB of a genuine. However some 2GB fakes only have a true capacity of only 512MB/1GB. Try transferring as much data as possible to your card and also READ BACK from the card to see if it will actually hold close to the stated capacity with no sign of data corruption.
2. Genuine hi-speed card (with red-stripe) has a transfer speed at about 80Mbps. Fake has a slower transfer speed with 1948MB fake actually can do about 65Mbps to 70Mbps and 1959MB fake at most 60Mbps

4. False SONY Part Number or MagicGate not supported

5. PSP test:

Sony has added into the 3.00+ firmwares an easy way to check whether memory sticks are genuine or not:

1: Browse to your memory stick under game, video, photo or music.
2: Press triangle and select information
3: If it says its magic gate compatible its real. If not then its fake.

This is an excellent way for people to be absolutely sure that their memory stick is real.